‘I saw something fall from the sky, and roll on the ground. It was only then I realised it was Luke’

The parents of a little boy who was killed in a hit-and-run accident have called for tighter driving licence controls after it emerged the motorist’s licence was renewed after he had suffered two significant brain injuries which left him with the mentality of a child.

Stephen and Josephine O’Donovan, from Ballymacoda, Co Cork, pleaded for change yesterday after an inquest into the death of their only child, Luke, 6, outside their home on April 16, 2014.

The inquest at Cork City Coroner’s Court was told that the driver involved, Edmund Walsh, aged 51, of Ballyherode, Ballymacoda, was first issued with a driver’s licence in 1989.